Cooperation with overseas organizations

From September 27 to September 29, 2016, the 7th IFAR (International Forum for Aviation Research) Summit was held in Daejeon, South Korea, hostedby the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). In attendance were representatives from 18 of the 26 IFAR member institutions, ...[more]

By fostering strategic international collaboration, we hope to fortify our technological offerings and return the fruits of its research to industry, university, and society as a whole. While building up cooperative efforts with public research organizations such as NASA (the United States), DLR/ONERA (Europe), and KARI (South Korea), we also promote collaboration and joint research with Boeing, Airbus, and other foreign manufacturers and universities in the interests of mutual benefit, and cooperate with international organizations such as ICAO and IFAR.

IFAR

JAXA is a member of International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR), the world´s only public aviation research establishment network, founded in 2010. With 24 member nations*1, IFAR‘s missions are (1) promoting collaboration among the world’s aviation research institutions, and (2) formulating frameworks shared by participating institutions for research on noise, emissions, high-efficiency operations, safety, and other environmental issues.
Member institutions gather every year for the IFAR Summit (the organization’s annual meeting) to exchange ideas on various issues related to the missions described above. In October 2012, JAXA hosted the Summit in Nagoya, drawing 36 participants from 17 countries to IFAR’s first-ever Summit in Asia. Using input gleaned from discussions in Nagoya and from this year’s Summit held in Moscow in August, IFAR is now at work on initiatives to drive multinational joint research and human resource development. For instance, JAXA is currently participating in a NASA-led discussion in conducting a multinational project involving research institutions, industry, and universities from six nations in alternative aviation fuel research. We also recognize the great potential in what IFAR can offer in educating future aviation researchers and engineers. IFAR’s initiative on student networking is a perfect way for doctoral students in training at JAXA to network with their counterparts at IFAR member institutions. These opportunities in networking will be instrumental in helping the future leaders of Japan’s aviation industry forge meaningful and lasting relationships with their colleagues from around the world.
As a newly selected Vice-Chair of IFAR, JAXA hopes to demonstrate its leadership working closely with the Chair organization NASA, and strives to contribute to IFAR to achieve its full potential in global research collaboration and training for the next generation of leaders in aviation research. As for human resource development, for instance, JAXA is currently participating in a NASA-led discussion in conducting a multinational project involving research institutions, industry, and universities from six nations in alternative aviation fuel research. We also recognize the great potential that IFAR can offer in educating future aviation researchers and engineers.

DLR, ONERA, other European collaboration

Since 1997, JAXA had been engaged in bilateral collaborative research with DLR (the German Aerospace Center) and ONERA (the French Aerospace Lab). In 2001, a trilateral joint research framework was established by JAXA, DLR, and ONERA. Since then, the three organizations have been accumulating fruitful collaborative research under this valuable framework.
Each organization also takes turns hosting annual trilateral meetings, where aviation research leaders from the respective organizations discuss research progress and strategic directions for future collaborations. This trilateral partnership continues to form close, mutually beneficial bonds.
Japan and the European Union (EU) also signed “The EU–Japan Science and Technology Agreement” in November 2009, which entered into force in March 2011, paving the way for ongoing collaboration in aeronautics research projects uniting Japan and Europe.

NASA

The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is one of JAXA’s closest and most important partners. Since 2008, JAXA and NASA have conducted joint research on noise reduction for aircraft and helicopters, as well as several collaborative works on supersonic flight. The two organizations have agreed to continue working together on joint projects in the environmental and safety-related fields in the coming years. JAXA researchers engaging in joint research benefit enormously from the relationship with NASA: many have taken advantage of opportunities to spend up to a year at NASA facilities as visiting researchers and hone their skills through direct, on-site collaboration with NASA scientists. The leaders of the aviation divisions at JAXA and NASA also meet annually to continue building a strong and trusting relationship that offers mutual benefits and enables fruitful strategic collaboration.

Boeing / Airbus

Since 2000, JAXA has been researching and developing an on-board Doppler LIDAR that can detect turbulence in-flight and thereby prevent accidents before they occur. In 2010, JAXA began working with Boeing to enhance performance, reliability, durability, and compactness based on actual device specifications and installation requirements. Through this on-going collaborative partnership with Boeing, JAXA hopes that this technology will have a considerable impact in the not too far future in making the world’s skies safer places to travel.
In its collaborative partnership with Airbus, JAXA has been working on joint research in composite materials since 2009. Researchers from the JAXA Advanced Composite Research Center had the opportunity to conduct research at Airbus Headquarters in Toulouse, France, in 2011 and 2012. Also, an Airbus engineer spent a summer at JAXA working with JAXA composite researchers in 2013: just another of the many valuable experiences the relationship has created.

Contribution to international organizations

JAXA serves as the Japanese government’s official adviser (to the Civil Aviation Bureau) on the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), which oversees the development of global regulations on aircraft emissions and noise for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)—a UN agency that establishes standards for global air transportation. JAXA sends six researchers to act as technology specialists at CAEP’s technical working groups.
JAXA also contributes in the development of ISO standards for composite material testing methods using its world-class composite material testing equipment and simulation technology.